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The Re-Evangelization Of The Maa Man As A New Approach To The Maa Apostolate
(Tangaza University, 2022) Lekandome Ekokoyo Jean-Louis
Mission has got a number of definitions. Buono refers to mission as the act of being sent for a specific task by a sender who has authority over the one who is being sent.1 According to Ad Gentes #6 missions refer to all the undertakings that are carried on by the preachers of the Good News. Their undertakings are transformed to missionary activities and serve as a purpose to win souls for Christ Jesus, [AG #6]. However, it is important to note that theologically, mission is a Trinitarian initiative rather than human initiative. Those who are sent only participate in the salvific mission. Those who take part in the salvific mission of Christ are referred to as evangelizers or messengers of the Good News, [EN #2]. The evangelizers only share in the mission of Christ who was Himself, the Good News of God, and the very first and the greatest evangelizer of all time, [EN #7].
Jesus sends the Church just as His Father sent Him. As the Father sent me, I am also sending you, (Jn 20:21). This is a universal mission for the whole Church until Jesus comes again. In this mission, Jesus promised to be with the Church until the end of time (Mt 28:20). Aware of the depth and the length of this mission, Pope John Paull II, in his encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio states that the work of evangelization handed over to the Church by our Lord Jesus Christ is still very far from its conclusion, [RM #1]. The Pope furthermore believes despite being the second millennium after the Lord’s first coming possibly draws to an end, the human race still shows the signs of the mission is still in its genesis and we have the obligation as Christians to recommit ourselves to its service, [RM #1]. As stated above, this mission is universal; that means it involves both men and women of all races. The Maasai people in this case are not an exception to this mission. They are both the evangelized and evangelizers at their own level.
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Mission as Dialogue and Encounter: The Basis for the Mill Hill Missionaries’ Attitudes in Evangelizing the Human Person. Case Study of Catholic Diocese of Bungoma.
(Tangaza University College, 2022) Wanjala Dennis Bwire
The pioneer missionaries in Western Kenya were the Mill Hill Missionaries, amongst whom from the start there was a big presence of Dutchmen. In 1894 they were entrusted with the Vicariate of the Upper Nile. In which, as well as territories in Uganda, the West of Kenya was included. In 1903 they opened a mission in Kisumu among the Luo, followed a year later by a Station in Mumias among the Luhyia. In the following years there was a constant expansion of missionary work among those tribes, while mission stations were also opened among the Gusii.1
This quote triggered a number of questions in me: How was the first encounter of the pioneer Mill Hill Missionaries with the local people? Were the local people especially those in the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma either receptive or not to their invitation; and Why? Above all, how was the Mill Hill Missionaries’ attitudes towards the local people and their culture, and amongst themselves as missionaries in the work of evangelization and human promotion? This research will therefore explore the dialogue and encounter between the Mill Hill Missionaries and the local people. It will further investigate the goals, styles and means of evangelization, and their influence on the lives of the local people and the missionary character and spirituality of the Mill Hill Missionaries. The Mill Hill Missionaries have always been in dialogue with the culture of the people.
The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, Gaudium et Spes, accentuates the urgency for the Church to be in solidarity with the whole of human family and read the signs of times in the midst of the diverse and constant flux of science and technology, “culture and the ways of thinking”2 in her work of evangelization in the modern world. This indeed is a call of any missionary in a given mission territory to ask oneself: What is going on here? Why I am here, and for whom am I in this particular mission placement? How do I respond to this particular situation, and what missionary attitudes do I need to develop in this context as I encounter these people daily? Indeed this is a call for a missionary to be open to dialogue and surrender to the promptings of the Holy Spirit for effectiveness of the missionary tasks entrusted to him. This implies that dialogue is an integral part to missionary evangelization on the account that
The same Spirit is at work in the people being evangelized as well as the evangelizers; and we acknowledge that there is a two-way exchange of gifts, between missionaries and the people among whom they work. Dialogue conveys the impression that mission is not just a matter of doing things for the people. It is first of all a matter of being with people, of listening and sharing with them.3
Additionally, in the opening address for the 18th Chapter of St. Joseph’s Missionary Society, Fr. Anthony Chantry, the General Superior of the Mill Hill Missionaries affirmed the need for dialogue in mission by saying:
We will begin our journey together by listening attentively to one another and the concerns of the Members and Associates. We shall conclude with statements and recommendations born of consensus, and choose leadership that will empower our society in its mission of loving service over the next five years. So the quality of the dialogue that will take place during the journey will determine the quality of the outcomes of this Chapter. In his pre-conclave speech Pope Francis said: “Dialogue is born from a respectful attitude toward the other person, from a conviction that the other person has something good to say. It supposes that we can make room in our heart for their point of view, their opinion and their proposals.” May this characterize our deliberations in revisioning the mission and identity of our Society in evangelization (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 33)4.
The research will be tackled in four chapters: Chapter one will deal with the Preliminaries, the background information of the problem and the overview of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma including the geographical location of the diocese; the people and tribes which make up this ecclesiastical jurisdiction, principally the Luhya tribe, and the organization of the diocese. Chapter two will concentrate on the conception of Mission as Dialogue and Encounter and its relevance to the holistic evangelization of the peoples. Chapter three will aim at the Mill Hill Missionaries’ Attitudes in the Evangelization of Human Person in Bungoma Diocese. Here, the paper will analyze the Society’s missionary tasks and motivation as presented to the public by first tracing the genesis and charism of the society, the Mill Hill Missionaries in Western Kenya and as well as the means of evangelization and their impact on the faith of the local people. Consequently, the research will examine the challenges faced by the missionaries in their work of evangelizing the people of the Catholic Diocese of Bungoma.
Finally, chapter four will sum up the research with the Recommendations and General conclusion. Firstly, on the specific missionary attitudes and spirituality of the Mill Hill Missionaries in evangelization of the people; and secondly, on the general missionary attitudes, i.e. how a missionary need to nurture and use these very attitudes in mission.
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The Relevance of the Symbolic Meaning of Jesus’s Words and Actions at the Last Supper, (Luke 22:14-20). For an Authentic Christian Living in the Contemporary Christian Communities of Zimbabwe Today.
(Tangaza University, 2022) Reuben Mutukura
Christianity has the largest population in Zimbabwe when it comes to religion and more importantly, Catholicism has significant numbers, but the question is, why there is little impact on Christian life and values in Zimbabwe? Human rights are violated, there are divisions among the people due to language, economic crisis, or political affiliations, and there is great poverty and a growing tendency of no concern for the other among the people except when they want to use them. The question, especially for Christians, is where are the values they proclaim every day as they worship and why is there no trace of Christian values in the society that Christianity prescribes? Where is that existential authentic and practical way of life prescribed by Jesus whom the Christian follow as they make the largest and most significant numbers when it comes to religions, In Zimbabwe?
This study notices the gap that is left when it comes to practicality as people only focus on the mechanical and routine approach to religion as many consider all as magic and easily forget that there is something to be lived too in society from what we profess with our mouths and should be translated into the way we live with each other. Thus Luke 22:14– 20, stands as the foundation to understand Jesus’s teaching and be able to easily find ways to translate it to be our way of life. We live in a world characterized by a lack of commitment in the Christians, particularly Catholics, and also a failure to apply their faith in their day-to-day lives in their communities. Catholics receive the Body and Blood of Jesus every time they worship, but it ends there in church and after their worship, they go back to leave their lives as if nothing happened, and this is a very troubling issue and problem. Thus this work seeks to address this special issue by showing how the Eucharist can be the source and better means for Christians to transform their lives and live the values that the gospels give. Thus this study seeks to highlight the importance of the symbolic meaning of the Eucharist which is often forgotten, as the foundation for understanding well and appreciating the real presence of Jesus, present among His people and thus understand what it means and implies for one who receives the Eucharist and be able to live it in their daily lives.
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The Impact Of The Contemporary Challenges On Young People’s Engagement In The Catholic Church Today: A Pastoral Concern Of Our Lady Of Visitation Nabbingo Parish, Kampala Archdiocese-Uganda
(Tangaza University, 2022) Nsibambi Gonzaga
During my apostolate in Our Lady of Visitation Nabbingo parish, I discovered that young people are granted excessive freedom which has impacted their social-economic, psychological, physical and religious lifestyles, by contributing to their fixation, and undesirable behaviors like gambling, vandalism, stealing, drugs and even prostitution in order to quench their immediate needs and desires and quit the life of God in their daily ways of life. And so despite the efforts done by the Parish to attract and engage young people in Church activities, there is still lack of interest, involvement and active participation of young people in the Church. The continual disengagement of young people, may lead the future Catholic Church into crisis of the faithful members. It is due to this observation from different parishes that I chose this topic so as to investigate on how pastorally the Church can make them understand the importance of God in their lives, help them to overcome the mushrooming obstacles they encounter in life, and suggest possible ways of making them quest for God and be actively engaged in all Catholic Church activities.
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St. Paul’s Concept of One Body in Christ (1 Cor 12: 4–13): A Way of Enhancing Unity among the Christians in Zambia
(2022) Pethias Kafula
From time immemorial, the Church has suffered from both internal and external upheavals. From the internal, the members within the Church fight and compete with each other for various things. In the quest to be noticed and seem relevant to others, believers have entered a situation where one’s level of spiritual life is measured by his/her giftedness. From the external perspective, there is an element of Christians criticizing and condemning those who do not belong to their denomination. This behaviour is coupled up with words like; in that Church, there is no Holy Spirit. Thus, causing members to shift from one denomination to another. However, the pericope 1 Cor 12: 4–13 is going to address and offer a solution to this defect.
The first letter to the Corinthian is an address to the Church in Corinth. The bone of contention in the letter is all about the issues sent to him by various individuals. Among these people are the Chloe’s people who arrived bringing news to Paul about factions and divisions 1 Cor 1: 11. The other information came from the community intending to seek clarity on several issues that the believers were confronted with 1 Cor 7: 1. Nevertheless, aside from the lost letter to the Corinthians, Paul decided to write the second letter which is now considered as the canonical first Corinthians. The behaviour that dominated the city of Corinth and thereby influenced the believers negatively is that of feeling “self–sufficient,” “self–congratulatory,” and “success in competition.”
The first letter to the Corinthians is among the undisputed letters of St. Paul, and the main bone of contention was to address the following issues. In chs. 1–4, he addressed the issue of division (factions) and rivalry that existed among the believers in the community. Chs. 5–6: 20, was dedicated to dealing with the issue of immorality and lawsuits. In chs. 7: 1–40, the issue was all about marriage and celibacy. In chs. 8–11: 1, the controversy about food offered to idols and the issue of idolatry was addressed. The matters of worship and the Eucharist were addressed in ch. 11: 2–34. Furthermore, one of the biggest problems regarding the spiritual gifts was addressed in chs. 12: 1–14: 40. Finally, about the issue of the resurrection, St. Paul took time to talk about it in ch. 15.
Zambia has a large population of citizens as Christians, and this makes it have a similar experience as that of the Corinthian Church. The area in which there is the biggest problem among Christians in Zambia, is on the issue of spiritual gifts. Christians have classified gifts in such a way that those who are not gifted in a particular area feel inferior. And instead of concentrating and focusing our attention on the giver of gifts, God himself, the believers in Zambia are concerned more about the gifts.